Slow Travel and Thrill-Seeking in Costa Rica
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Last week I attended an insightful event arranged by the Costa Rica Tourism Board, and I met with sales teams from new, small, luxury hotels with beautiful, secluded beaches I know many of you would appreciate. Costa Rica is a popular place for our Nine Muses community, and I have some special suggestions to make the next time we're planning a Costa Rican adventure together for the pura vida.
Peaceful Costa Rica offers unforgettable adventures for everyone from thrill seekers to thermal water soakers. Arts lovers will enjoy one of my favorite finds, the town of Sarchi, which is known for its brightly painted oxcarts and handicrafts. Costa Rica caters to all styles of travel!
Article below from 7/29/2024 by Josie Sexton can be found HERE.
No, you don’t have to surf, zip-line, or otherwise “send it.”
Sometimes, surfing looks like lying flat for an eternity, summoning the strength to rise to a kneel, and then immediately falling off the board. At least that was the case last winter on Santa Teresa Beach, where my ambivalent interest in catching a wave didn’t quite translate to standing on two feet.
This wasn’t a redemption story. Traveling to Costa Rica’s legendary surfing capital and its storied jungle playgrounds, I dabbled in the destination’s top-billed adventures, such as surfing and rappelling, only to solidify what I already knew: I’m one for observing nature, yes, but not ripping through it.
As the Ticos (Costa Ricans) say so naturally, “Pura vida!” Or in this case: Life’s too short to be anything other than yourself. With that in mind, I reveled in activities with soft rainforest landings and nonexistent ocean swells. Here, those standout, low-key Tico experiences, for those of us who prefer to slow down rather than go all out.
Swim after Dark
Night swims provide excitement and relaxation in near equal proportion. Better yet, in northwest Costa Rica’s Gulf of Nicoya, they come with natural, waterproof night-lights. On a boat tour off Tambor Beach arranged by my hotel, Nantipa – A Tico Beach Experience, I crossed sheltered Ballena Bay to drink sunset guaro (sugarcane liquor) mojitos and swim in the ocean underneath occasional meteors.
It's tough to compete with shooting stars, I thought, though the underwater light show I was about to witness would give them a run for their money. Upon lowering into the pitch-black bay, I watched through goggles as thousands of bioluminescent plankton – pin-size aquatic fireflies – lit up the water. They’re visible year-round in various parts of Costa Rica, at once thrilling and comforting ocean companions.
Spot Sloths
During my time in Costa Rica, I came to feel a real kinship with the country’s native forest nappers. Two- and three-toed sloths, called osos perezosos (“lazy bears”) in Spanish for their so-called indolence, spend abundant time in trees, slowly munching on insects and leaves, only descending to the ground once a week to do their business. My guide came in handy when I tried to spot a single camouflaged sloth amid Arenal’s dense canopy.
Thankfully, forays into the jungle don’t always require harnesses or steep descents. Sloths make their celebrity-style appearances on walking and hiking excursions – as do howler and spider monkeys, toucans, and tanagers. On Backroads’ six-day “easygoing” adventure between Bajos del Toro and Islita, travelers might spot them while taking a leisurely float down the Sarapiquí River.
Soak in Thermal Springs
Under the cover of La Fortuna’s rainforest, just beyond the border of Arenal Volcano National Park in the center of the country, geothermal activity heats groundwater beneath the Tabacón Thermal Resort & Spa. There, hotel guests and visitors simmer in Tabacón’s two dozen nature-fed pools, linked by terraced gardens and waterfalls and ranging in temperature from around 70 to 100 degrees. Travelers go big for the spa’s local-honey massages and volcanic-mud body wraps applied in open-air huts. And they turn in at night in suites with private thermal plunges, some providing unimpeded views of the volcano. (Don’t worry: As of 2010, it’s dormant.)
Save a Sea Turtle
Beyond Puntarenas’ last paved roads, horse trails trace the coastal rainforest from Hacienda Ario’s 4,700-acre cattle ranch to Cirenas (Center for Investigation of Social and Natural Resources), where travelers attend workshops on permaculture, hydroponic farming, and ocean conservation. At a beach sanctuary just below the visitors’ center, Cirenas volunteers protect turtle eggs and hatchlings from natural predators – or worse, poachers.
On a lucky day, visitors might help uncover a cupped-palm-size hawksbill, guarding it from a safe distance as it crawls clumsily out to sea. Volunteers aren’t shy about sharing each turtle’s 0.1 percent chance of survival, which means every single hatchling gets due regard as an underdog champion.
Watch the Sunset from Nantipa
By the time I returned to Santa Teresa Beach after my anticlimactic surf lesson, the monkeys had entered howling hour, shallow pools had emerged from low tide, and a mist hung across the coastline. Now this was more like it. The surfers had exhausted themselves, but up and down the shore, friends, families, and couples gathered for nature’s daily performance. Here, at one of Costa Rica’s westernmost points, Ticos know the spot to see a big sherbert sun dip below the ocean.
My order during this citrus-tinged social: a tamarind cocktail at Nantipa’s Manzú restaurant. On my last night in Central America, I wondered, Do I have regrets of adventures unsent? Only, perhaps, not asking for one last plate of Manzú’s patacónes (crunchy fried plantains) or polishing off one final bowl of its tender palmilla salad. Pura vida, I’d have to say – because in Costa Rica, it’s OK to drink dessert on the beach and sit and watch the ice cream melt.
Unwind in Costa Rica
Nantipa – A Tico Beach Experience
Nantipa – A Tico Beach Experience lets travelers cast away in 27 private suites and bungalows scattered along Santa Teresa Beach. Go for the hotel’s Numu Spa wellness retreats and fresh-caught meals at beachfront Manzú restaurant (with front-row seats at sunset). Nantipa sits in one of the world’s five Blue Zones, the Nicoya Peninsula, where residents reportedly live longer than anywhere else on earth.
Tabacón Thermal Resort & Spa
Tabacón Thermal Resort & Spa’s 105 guest rooms span lush, manicured grounds inside a 900-acre rainforest nature preserve. Natural thermal waters flow throughout the property, filling honeymoon-suite plunge pools, open-air spa showers, and a secret-garden park of 24 terraced hot springs (the resort’s beating heart). While it’s easy to stay put, travelers venture out to explore Lake Arenal and Arenal Volcano National Park, as well as La Fortuna’s walkable town and famed waterfall.
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